TIFF21 REVIEW: You Are Not My Mother [2021]

I can’t do this anymore. Despite leaving writer/director Kate Dolan‘s feature debut You Are Not My Mother with a lot more questions than answers, I don’t think that reality is necessarily a bad thing. Maybe if I was better versed in Irish lore, I’d be more familiar with the supernatural elements at play and therefore less in the dark about the unspoken details the film doesn’t seem to realize it might need to share for better understanding. But it’s not as though knowing would add too much beyond context. And…

Read More

TIFF18 REVIEW: Float Like a Butterfly [2018]

Keep your head up. A lot can change in five to ten years and even more can unfortunately remain the same. When we first meet the Joyce family little Frances’ age has yet to hit double digits, her younger brother Patrick still clinging to their mom’s side. Their band of traveling Irish sing their folk songs and drink their stout, enjoying the freedom they live to protect—the same freedom outsiders love to destroy by lobbing racist and classist bigotry onto them as though they were savages. Michael Joyce (Dara Devaney)…

Read More